Education Archives

Decrease Sugar Consumption to < 30 Grams a Day

Processed food companies add alarming amounts of sugar and other additives to make foods taste better, yet consumers are simply unaware they are exceeding their recommended daily intake of sugar.

Nutrition labels aren’t clear on how much sugar is naturally derived from the food itself and how much is actually added sugar (e.g. high-fructose corn syrup). And many people don’t readily recognize the various sugar sources provided on the labels. According to SugarScience.org, added sugars hide in 74 percent of packaged foods under more than 60 different names.

How Much Is Too Much?

Four grams of sugar is equivalent to one teaspoon of sugar. The liver can metabolize roughly six teaspoons (24 grams)of added sugar a day before converting excess sugar into body fat. On average, Americans consume about 20 teaspoons (80 grams) of added sugar a day!

The effects of high sugar intake are many: weight gain, belly fat, headaches, and fatigue are common. As large amounts of sugar and fructose overwork the organs, chronic conditions develop: obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes – a disease now on the rise in young children. The risk of certain cancers increases, as does the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease. The relationship between insulin-resistance and brain cell death is so strong that researchers believe Alzheimer’s might possibly be a form of diabetes (Type 3 diabetes).

WFP’s Take-Home Advice

We recommended that you decrease your total sugar intake from all foods to less than 30 grams a day. If sodas and/or fruit juice are part of your diet, then these are the first things to eliminate – followed by all other processed, packaged sugars. This will allow you to keep under your daily sugar total with natural sugars from fruits and vegetables, along with the occasional dessert.

Hi, the article says that 4 grams of sugar are equal to one teaspoon. On a food label, sugar is usually listed in grams and not teaspoons. So, 30 grams of sugar is roughly equal to 7 1/2 teaspoons daily, or 2 1/2 tablespoons.

Why don’t you mention the relationship of sugar to an overgrowth of candida in one’s system and the negative effects of that? That was the something your office found in me and put me on a regimen of probiotics, an anti-fungal, and a no-sugar diet, i.e. no sugar, no grain, no fruit, and no dairy. I assumed that all this meant that the condition is serious.